AN innovative North-East company which manufactures amphibious vehicles faces an uncertain future after going into administration.

David Royle, managing director of Covelink Marine Limited, in Staindrop, County Durham, has said that he has been unable to raise enough capital to support potential orders worth £100m.

Mr Royle said the problem lies with a traditional British reluctance to invest in innovative new ideas.

He said: "The British nation is known for its reserve for innovative new ideas.

"From the jet engine to the clockwork radio, there's a strange unwillingness on behalf of investors to support new British technologies."

To date, Mr Royle has managed to raise nearly £4.4m to develop and obtain worldwide patents and intellectual property rights for the Jet Truck, an amphibious vehicle which can be adapted for a number of uses, including public service, commercial and military markets.

The truck retails at about £350,000 and a potential new 65,000sq ft factory unit for production of the vehicle has been identified in Aycliffe, near Darlington.

It has already attracted interest and potential orders from all around the world.

However, Mr Royle needs to find upwards of £2.5m for production of the vehicle, and despite having approached hundreds of potential investors, he has been unable to raise the money. This has resulted in 15 staff at Covelink's factory having to be made redundant.

One problem has been that many would-be investors have demanded a large share of equity in the company.

Mr Royle said: "Some firms want a lot of equity for a small amount of money put in. I don't mind losing equity but it has to be commensurate with the money put in."

Despite having gone into administration, Mr Royle is confident the firm will be able to pull through and has said that in some ways administration may have helped.

He said: "Ironically, since going into administration, we've had lot more interest, so it could be a silver cloud.

"I'm quite optimistic that we can sort it out. It's different to a company that has gone into administration because of bad management as we have never started trading.

"We've got an excellent management team and if we can get the investment, then we can take the people who we have made redundant back on, who have got excellent skills, and start production."

Although it has been a sponsor of Covelink Marine, Mr Royle's other business, David Royle and Co, a classic car restoration business, is not under threat